Good sense appears to have prevailed at last. With a fresh set of draft rules to replace last year’s poorly conceived(कल्पना)ones, the Centre has sought to withdraw the ban on sale of cattle for slaughter(पशुबध/हत्या) in animal markets. The draft rules are now open for comments and suggestions. When the Union Ministry for Environment, Forests and Climate(जलवायु) Change notified the rules under the Prevention(रोक-थाम/प्रतिबंध) of Cruelty(क्रूरता/निर्दयता) to Animals Act on May 23, 2017, there was concern that in the name of preventing cruelty to animals and regulating livestock(मवेशी/पशु) markets the government was surreptitiously(चुपके/चोरी-चोरी)throttling(गला घोंटना/कुचलना) the cattle trade(मवेशी व्यापार) and furthering the BJP’s cow protection agenda. The rules were criticised(निंदा करना) for restricting legitimate animal trade and interfering(दखल देना/हस्‍तक्षेपपूर्ण) with dietary(खूराक या दैनिक आहार की मात्रा/परहेज़) habits. The new draft makes a welcome departure from the earlier rules, seeking to provide great relief to buyers of animals from cumbersome(कष्टकर/भारी) paperwork and procedural(प्रक्रियात्मक) requirements. Some distance-specific conditions to curb inter-State and cross-border movement of animals are to be dropped, as also rules barring animal markets within 25 km of a State border and 50 km of the international boundary. The definition of ‘animal markets’ will no more include any lairage adjoining(समीपवाला/नज़दीकी) a slaughter-house, thereby removing curbs on the sale of animals in a resting place in the vicinity of a market. The draft retains good provisions in the earlier notification barring((छोड़कर) cruelty in the treatment and transport of animals.

The notification had set off a storm last year, with some Chief Ministers stridently(कर्कश ध्वनी/झटके)opposing(विरोध) it on the ground that regulating livestock trade was essentially(अनिवार्य रूप से/वास्तव में) a State subject. Even assuming(यह सोचते हैं/अंहकारी) that the Centre had jurisdiction(न्याय सीमा/अधिकार-क्षेत्र) under the law against animal cruelty to notify the rules, it was obvious(प्रकट/स्पष्ट) that only the States could enforce(लागू करना/बाध्य करना) them. With the Supreme Court expanding a stay granted by the Madras High Court into a nation-wide bar on the rules, and some States taking a clear stand that they would not implement the regulations, the notification was a non-starter. There was further concern whether the regulations wouldadversely(प्रतिकूल/हानिकारी रूप में) impact poor villagers, as animal markets are predominantly(मुख्य रूप से/प्रभावपूर्णता से) in the countryside. There was an impression that under the guise of stiff regulations, the Centre was making it impossible for cattle, a term that covers cows, buffalo, bulls and camels, to be slaughtered even for food, despite the PCA Act recognising(पहचानना) explicitly(स्पष्ट रूप से) that animals can be food for humans. The meat trade, valued at thousands of crores of rupees, would have suffered a serious setback had the rules been implemented. Any transformation from a tendency to advance pet causes to an approach based on economic and legal considerations would be a welcome change. Good governance is not only about regulating human and economic activities, but also about avoiding perceptions(धारणाओं/अनुभूति) of sectarianism(सांप्रदायिकता ).